Homing

Margot Henderson is one of Britain's most influential chefs, and a pioneer of “nose-to-tail” cooking. She's spent her career finding value in what others might disregard – a philosophy that extends far beyond the kitchen.Alongside her husband, Fergus Henderson, she's helped redefine the way we eat, with an approach that's simple, honest and rooted in ingredients rather than technique.While Fergus founded St. JOHN, Margot helped shape a generation of cooks through Rochelle Canteen, Arnold & Henderson and, more recently, The Three Horseshoes in Somerset. In this conversation, recorded in her home in Stockwell, Margot describes her childhood in New Zealand, where her mother introduced her to a world of French restaurants and a lifelong appetite for adventurous eating.We talk about the pull of London in the 1980s, the influence of The Face magazine, and the whirlwind romance that led to a lifelong partnership with Fergus.Margot also reflects on marriage, loyalty and care, as she discusses Fergus's Parkinson's diagnosis and the realities of growing older together.This episode of Homing was recorded inside Margot’s home in Stockwell.Join us over on Patreon to watch the full house tour.To hear more from us:Patreon: Watch exclusive home tours, https://www.patreon.com/HomingWithMattYouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with MattInstagram: Follow for updates and announcements, @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.officeProduced by @podshoponline ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Patrick Williams is an interior decorator who specialises in period buildings and restoration projects. He views design not just as decoration, but as a form of storytelling and historical preservation.Patrick is the founder of Berdoulat, a design practice named after the remarkable house in France that his parents restored over a twenty-year period during his childhood – a project that became central to their family story and continues to shape his work today.In this conversation, we talk about grief, inheritance, and the rituals that connect him to his family roots, including a cherished family recipe he makes called "The Truth". We also explore Patrick's fascination with classical architecture and his belief that the best buildings are designed in harmony with the human body: through proportion, acoustics and the accumulation of patina over time. This is a story about memory and belonging, and how the places we inhabit keep us connected to the people who shaped us, long after they're gone. A full tour of Patrick’s beautiful eighteenth-century house in Bath is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattPatrick's book, The House Rules, published by Quadrille, charts the evolution of Patrick Williams' design studio, Berdoulat and is a stunning visual exploration of his practice and meticulous approach to working with period buildings.To hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised tour of Patrick’s home is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

David Shrigley has spent his life creating art that makes people laugh. He is one of Britain’s most recognisable contemporary artists, celebrated for his deadpan drawings that mix humour, bleakness and childlike simplicity.Growing up as a shy, introspective child, on a red-brick estate in the suburbs of Leicester, David was happiest alone with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil – fifty years later, not much has changed.His artworks have an improvised quality, but beneath them lies a surprisingly ordered life. David talks openly about obsessive tendencies – anxiety, control, and the daily routines that keep him grounded. He works a reliable ten-to-six day, and ticks off each drawing as he goes.This is a conversation about the compulsion to make things and the human need to make light of life’s absurdities.A full tour of David’s Brighton studio is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattContact: Web: www.davidshrigley.com Shop: www.shrigshop.com Email: info@davidshrigley.comTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised tour of David’s studio is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist, gardener and the author of The Well-Gardened Mind. She has spent her career making the case that going outside and getting your hands in the soil is one of the most powerful things we can do for our mental health.Sue runs the Serge Hill Project, along with her husband, Tom Stuart-Smith — a garden and events space where children and groups from disadvantaged backgrounds come to learn about the profound link between gardening and wellbeing. Her research isn’t just scientific; it’s rooted in her own family history. Her grandfather found solace in gardening after the trauma of being a prisoner of war and her mother restored a large garden to cope with the death of Sue’s father. The episode builds on these stories to explore the positive hormonal effects of gardening on the body, the growing movement of green prescribing and how beauty can be a lifeline to those in recovery.This is a conversation about stepping outside, tuning into the natural world and finding a gentler rhythm.A full tour of Sue’s beautiful private gardens is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full catalogue of home tours is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Artist Sue Webster built a career and a home by refusing to fit in — it’s why she identifies with the Mole Man so much. She found fame alongside her husband Tim Noble, as part of the post-YBA generation — their anarchic self-portraits, made from found objects and discarded rubbish, made them the “rock stars” of British art. Together they built the Dirty House in Shoreditch, which helped define the area as the epicentre of London's art scene.More recently, Sue has created an equally radical home for herself: the Mole House in Hackney, built on top of the tunnels where the so-called Mole Man spent forty years digging underground. Where some saw an oddity, Sue saw something worth preserving. The house is a love letter to eccentricity, and a rare pocket of creative chaos in an increasingly polished city.From growing up in a caravan in Leicester to carving out a place in the art world and becoming a mother at 52, Sue’s story is one of fierce independence and how to live a life that is truly authentic to yourself.Sue's first solo exhibition, Birth of an Icon, is on show at Firstsite in Colchester.A full tour of The Mole House is available to members on Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full video home tour is available to members on Patreon:http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For fashion designer turned ceramicist Henry Holland, reinvention isn't about starting over – it's about evolving on your own terms.Henry first made his name with the cult fashion label House of Holland, famous for cheeky slogans like 'Do Me Daily Christopher Bailey' and 'Let's Breed Bella Hadid'. But in recent years, he has pivoted to making homewares and contemporary ceramics, using the Japanese technique of nerikomi.With his East London house currently being refurbished from top to bottom, Henry is living in a home of two halves. It’s the perfect metaphor for this transitional stage of his life.His parents separated when he was young, and he split his time between the two households. One was ordered and structured, while the other was more creative. It’s clear that he lives his life today with the influence of both.There’s the playful version of him that we’ve seen pictured at parties. But there’s also a deeply determined side that’s about proving people wrong, which partly stems from the bullying he experienced when he was young. Henry is not afraid to reveal his sensitivities, opening up about everything from panic attacks and imposter syndrome to the disappointment he felt when his fashion brand closed down in 2020. This is a conversation about reinvention, resilience and the tension between who we’ve been and who we’re becoming.This episode was recorded inside Henry’s home in East London.A full tour of the house is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Beyond the whirlwind of galleries and exhibitions, Tate Director Maria Balshaw's home holds the quieter, deeply personal moments of her life.Growing up in Northampton, she longed to escape her characterless new-build house and nurtured a desire to be different. Her current home in Kent is a reflection of that creative rebellion, with medieval beams at its centre, classical sash windows on one side and Crittalls on the other.Maria grows vegetables in her garden year-round, swims in the sea nearby, and measures time by what’s coming into flower – a way to be at one with nature and shed the stress of an urban working week. Her mother spent her final months in this house, sitting on the terrace in the sun, watching buzzards circle the valley, convinced one of them was her late husband waiting for her. At the end of March, Maria is stepping down from her position at the Tate after nine years, signing off with a major Tracey Emin exhibition. She knows exactly where she’ll be the following morning: in the garden, in her wellies, at the start of the growing season. This is a conversation about movement and rootedness – and about what it means to build a home that can hold both.This episode was recorded inside Maria’s home in Kent.A full tour of the home and garden is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith has spent most of his life on the same plot of land, tending its gardens and letting the land shape him in return. Tom has designed gardens at places like Chatsworth, Tate Britain and The Hepworth Wakefield. He’s won nine gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, and was awarded an OBE in 2023. But long before any of that, he was a child roaming Serge Hill in Hertfordshire, the estate his grandfather bought decades ago. Tom spent his childhood climbing its trees and staging Shakespeare plays. And apart from a brief spell away, he’s lived just 200 yards from his childhood home for almost his entire life. Tom’s wife, Sue Stuart-Smith, is a psychotherapist and author of the book The Well Gardened Mind. Together, they created the Serge Hill Project – a part of the estate where community groups, schoolchildren, young offenders and people recovering from illness can get hands-on with the soil and experience the uplifting power of nature.This is a conversation about landscapes, legacy and what it really means to stay rooted in one place.The episode was recorded at The Apple House, a modern pavilion on the estate designed by their son Ben.A full tour of the building and its surroundings is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised tour of Tom’s estate is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Author and podcaster Elizabeth Day spent years chasing a vision of the ‘perfect’ home life, only to discover that reality can look very different.She grew up in the Northern Irish countryside, in a home that was physically safe but shadowed by unrest in the wider community. Childhood fears of monsters under the bed were replaced by the reality of masked terrorists, which has made the concept of home as a place of safety so central to her life today.In the high-pressure early years of her journalism career at The Evening Standard, Elizabeth sought to create peaceful, restorative spaces – first in her own apartments, and later in the relationships she invested in.Her path has also been marked by profound challenges: the unexpected breakdown of her first marriage and a 12-year fertility journey that ultimately ended in disappointment. As a high achiever with a clear picture of her life goals, learning to navigate what she describes as “failure” has been far from straightforward.She describes her life in more recent years as “a dismantling of that and a recovery of who I was at four.” Her current home and her loving marriage to Justin are built upon the lessons she learned from these experiences. Elizabeth describes finding her home as a moment of fate, as if the universe delivered exactly what she needed. This episode looks at how perfectionism can take us away from ourselves, and how love and self-compassion can help us feel at home again.The episode was recorded in Elizabeth’s house in South London.A full house tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattElizabeth’s new novel, One of Us, is published by 4th Estate and available to purchase in hardback here. You can also preorder a copy of the paperback out (21 May) here.To hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised studio tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For interior designer and art curator Natasha Landers, home is where the public and private worlds meet. Her Walthamstow house is a curated gallery, where Black art is not just displayed, but lives among her daily life.Natasha grew up in a Hackney council house, sharing a bedroom with her brother in a home where space was tight, but imagination wasn’t. From an early age, she found ways to express herself – decorating her bedroom and reworking her clothes. She was the first in her family to go to university, leaving the noise of East London for the stillness of the Welsh valleys. The silence was unsettling. No traffic. No sirens. Just the realisation that home isn’t only about place – it’s about what your body recognises as safe. Today, Natasha is a diversity consultant, working in boardrooms where she's often the only Black person in the room. Spaces where she’s learned to hold her ground – and gently challenge how others see the world. Her home has become part of that work, and she opens it up as an exhibition space for Black artists. She’s lived there for 26 years, shaping it slowly and conscientiously. A roll-top bath once sat in the living room for two years, waiting for the moment it could finally be installed.It’s also a home that knows how to slow down. After years of people-pleasing and burnout, Natasha has learned to honour rest – and to find pleasure in small, everyday rituals. This is an episode about patience, knowing when to perform and when to stop, and how a home shaped over time can become a place where you’re finally allowed to just be. The episode was recorded at Natasha’s home in Walthamstow.A full tour of the house and art collection is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For homewares designer Matilda Goad, balance isn’t just a design principle – it’s a way of living. Her home is a reflection of that: comfortable and familiar, but full of playful touches.Growing up in a country cottage, boredom became a lesson in invention. With her grandfather an artist and her mother a fashion designer, Matilda was surrounded by creativity from an early age and developed a strong drive to prove herself.That ambition runs through everything she does. From designing her iconic scallop-edged lampshade to opening a new hardware store off the Pimlico Road, Matilda has a talent for taking the functional and adding a playful twist. Her home in London is an extension of her visual identity and the backdrop to some of life’s most significant moments. Both of her children were born at home – one in the sitting room, the other in the bedroom. For Matilda, home is psychological safety: a place that can hold everything.We talk about sensitivity to environments, using anxiety as fuel, and the discipline required to sustain creative drive. She shares practical rituals to reset, from breathwork exercises to lighting techniques, and the realities of building a business slowly and organically.This episode is about purpose, momentum and how our homes mirror the lives we’re building.– MattAn extended version of the tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponlineThe full visualised home tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMatt ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Max Rollitt is a highly respected interior decorator and antiques dealer. Extraordinary pieces pass through his hands every day, yet most of the objects he chooses to live with at home have little monetary value. Instead, they are tokens of respect and love.The conversation begins with Max’s childhood in Winchester, where he struggled at school because he processed information in images – something we’d now recognise as dyslexia. It’s this visual approach that is the foundation for a ‘Max Rollitt’ interior: decorating a home the way an artist composes a painting.Nowhere is that sensibility clearer than in his family farmhouse in the South Downs. Every piece of furniture and object has a story to tell: artworks from his sons, photographs of his wife, and handmade gifts from his mentors. During our private home tour, some of these objects even moved Max to tears. We also talk about how to create a nurturing environment for creative children, the grounding effect of rural life and finding personal fulfilment through spirituality.This episode is about how the objects we surround ourselves with are more than aesthetic items – they are containers for people and experiences.This episode was recorded in person at Max’s farmhouse in the South Downs.– MattAn extended version of the tour is available to our Patreon community.Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattTo hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel, Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496Music by @simeonwalkermusicIdentity & design by @lena.winkler.creative.office Produced by @podshoponline ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Chris Packham has always fascinated me. As a broadcaster, naturalist, and conservationist, he’s helped millions connect with wildlife and the natural world through shows like BBC’s Springwatch – but sitting down with him in his home, I realised how much of his story is about creating refuge, both at home and within himself.In this deeply personal conversation, Chris speaks candidly about his childhood in Southampton, being diagnosed with autism in his forties, and how he has designed a home that helps him manage sensory sensitivities – ironically filled with furniture and artwork that is deliberately uncomfortable.He reflects on solitude versus loneliness and how nature provides safety, structure and healing when the human world feels overwhelming.It’s a conversation about finding comfort in discomfort, about refuge and resilience, and, above all, about what it means to feel at home in the world.It’s also one of the most memorable episodes I’ve ever recorded. This episode was recorded in person at Chris' home in the New Forest.To hear more from us:YouTube: Subscribe to our channel Homing with Matt, to watch the video versionInstagram: @homingwithmattTikTok: @homing.with.mattContact: Email us at hello@mattgibberd.comFor more content and exclusive walking tours:Patreon: http://patreon.com/HomingWithMattMatt Gibberd’s book, A Modern Way to Live, is available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320176/a-modern-way-to-live-by-gibberd-matt/9780241480496 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★